Head of teachers’ group blasts SBOE

The head of the Texas State Teachers Association said her group shares the concern of lawmakers about the proposed history curriculum standards.

“The ultra-conservative members of the State Board of Education have a narrow ideological view that not only ignores history but also ignores the changing world we call America,” TSTA President Rita Haecker told lawmakers.

TSTA President

Rita Haecker

“We speak of the 1950s in terms of poodle skirts and rock and roll, but there are other stories. These stories are about separate drinking fountains, separate schools, a separate and not equal society that moved civil rights leaders, such as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. to make a difference,” she said. But Dr. King and other African Americans have been marginalized in this curriculum.

Haecker said, “The right-wing members of the State Board of Education are the wrong wing. Unfortunately, they seem to have taken over completely. Eight people will keep our minority stories from being told because, frankly, we just don’t look like they do.”

Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, asked Haecker about the reaction of schoolteachers who teach history.

“Yes, many people have given input, but they believe that they were not heard,” Haecker answered.

Teachers are not heard in the process, she said: “That really takes away from us as a profession.”

Moody, whose mother is an educator, suggested “a disconnect between the required curriculum and a teacher’s challenge to inspire students.”